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Functionally Speaking
Welcome to Functionally Speaking— the podcast where two clinicians share one brain cell and way too many opinions.
We’re here for the nuance, the hot takes, the facts your certification skipped over, and the occasional spiral into chaos. If you’re a health coach, practitioner, or clinician who’s slightly functional (just like our mitochondria and our recording process), you’re in the right place.
We’re not here to sugarcoat the science or pretend there’s one right way to do this work — we’re doing it our way. Unfiltered. Slightly feral. And always with love for the humans we serve.
Let’s get into it.
Functionally Speaking
29. Amenorrhea in Fit Women: What Practitioners Are Overlooking
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Why is it that the “healthiest” looking women in the room are often the ones silently missing their periods?
In this episode of the Functionally Speaking podcast, we unpack one of the most overlooked clinical patterns we see in practice: hypothalamic amenorrhea in lean, active, high-achieving women. We talk about why this gets missed in conventional care, how birth control becomes a band-aid instead of a solution, and why underfueling and overtraining are still wildly under-addressed in “healthy” populations.
We also share why this conversation matters even more right now—with GLP-1 use rising, macro coaching everywhere, and cultural pressure to stay lean at all costs.
In this episode, we cover:
- 01:30 Podcast hiatus announcement
- 02:03 What is Hypothalamic Amenorrhea (HA) and why it’s missed in “healthy” women
- 03:32 Better intake & activity screening
- 05:34 Red flags in consults
- 06:08 Fertility clinics, low-carb advice, and the birth control “band-aid” problem
- 09:18 Recovery reality: energy availability, timelines, and why it takes months
- 12:04 Competing goals: endurance training, leanness standards, and fertility tradeoffs
- 15:23 How to coach women through change
- 18:35 Unqualified macro coaching, low-fat dieting, and missing periods
- 20:33 GLP-1s and period loss
- 23:15 3 practitioner takeaways
Connect with Unconventional Collaborative:
Join Us: https://unconventional-collaborative.mn.co/
Website: unconventionalcollaborative.com
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Connect with Laura Ligos:
Website: https://thesassydietitian.com
Instagram: instagram.com/thesassydietitian
Connect with Danielle Kepics:
Website: https://www.empoweredmindbody.co
Instagram: instagram.com/danielle.kepics
The information in this podcast is for educational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always consult your physician or qualified provider with questions about your health and never delay seeking care because of something you heard here.
Nothing shared by Unconventional Collaborative is intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent disease, and supplement statements have not been evaluated by the FDA. This podcast does not create a doctor–patient, provider–client, or supervisory relationship.
All practitioners are responsible for interpreting and applying information within the legal and ethical scope of their own training and credentials. If unsure what falls within your scope of practice, consult your licensing or certifying body.
Unconventional Collaborative and its contributors assume no responsibility for outcomes resulting from use or misuse of this information.
